Chapter 8

Yui and I had come to the guild-owned training ground.

Located behind the guild hall, it was built like an arena, wide enough and sturdy enough to allow for rough training without any issues.

"Ah! Act, what are you doing?"

In the training ground, the hero Laurence and the party member Ulger were present.

It seems they were caught immediately after the incident.

Before the heroes returned to the capital, I had stopped them.

"Laurence, I want to see how much stronger you've become. Let's spar."

"Is that so! Got it!"

Then, Ulger said with a mocking tone.

"Are you kidding? Guild Master, you're a non-combatant, right? Hero Laurence has combat power that surpasses mine. You'll end up dead."

"If that's the case, then Laurence isn't much either."

"Wh-What!?"

The hero's eyes widened, but he nodded and smiled, saying, "I see."

"What are you saying! Laurence is strong! I know that well from our many spars during training!"

"Laurence was originally weak. If you lost to him, you're not much either, Ulger."

His pride wounded, Ulger's face turned red, and his shoulders trembled.

"Stop being so cocky! Hey, Guild Master! Fight me one-on-one!"

"What! What are you saying! Act-sama is not a combatant!"

Yui's face turned pale as she shouted.

"Alright, I'll spar with you."

"Act-sama!?"

I took off the coat I was wearing and handed it to Yui.

"I'll make you regret insulting a master spearman like me!"

Ulger's weapon is a spear.

On the other hand, I faced him unarmed.

"Stop it, Act-sama! You'll get hurt!"

"Miss, don't worry! It's fine!"

Hero Laurence patted Yui's shoulder and said.

"But Ulger is strong, right?"

"Yeah, he's quite skilled! Thanks to Act's training, he has the strength of an S-rank adventurer or better!"

"An S-rank!? That's the highest rank! Act-sama! Stop it!"

We moved away from Yui and faced each other in the center of the training ground.

"Whenever you're ready."

"Hmph! I'll show you a good time!"

Ulger readied his spear and charged at me.

"Here I come!"

I dodged his spear strike by twisting my body.

"What!? What!?"

I swept Ulger's feet, causing him to dive to the ground.

"Ugh!"

"Amazing... Act-sama, to dodge such a fast attack..."

Yui's eyes widened as she watched me.

"Of course, with Act-sama's Eye of the King of Time!"

The S-rank appraisal eye that can read the flow of time, equipped with dynamic visual acuity that surpasses that of a normal person.

I read Ulger's attacks and used my unique time acceleration to dodge them.

"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"

"Damn! This is it!"

He approached and attacked with his spear in rapid succession.

"Amazing, it looks like there are a hundred spears moving so fast. Yet, you're dodging all of them! Act-sama is incredible!"

Since I could see the attacks, using acceleration to dodge them was easy.

"This! This! Why! Why can't I hit you!? Damn it!"

His attacks became more reckless as he grew frustrated.

Eventually, Ulger stopped and panted heavily.

"Tsk, is this the level of the hero party? You've really declined."

"Shut up!"

Ulger glared at me, his fighting spirit exposed.

"You can't even touch me, a non-combatant. This is your limit. Know your place."

"No! I'm not just this! I'm the strongest spearman!"

A massive amount of magic power erupted from Ulger's body.

Several times more than when he was a raw stone.

"What... I didn't know you had such a vast amount of magic power... But it's fine! This will be enough to win!"

Ulger readied his spear and concentrated his magic power at the tip.

"Take this!"

He charged at me at super high speed, piercing the ground.

"Good attack."

I accelerated, jumped, and dodged his attack.

Ulger crashed into the wall and collapsed on the spot.

"Damn, damn..."

I approached the sprawled Ulger and looked down at him.

"I was looking forward to seeing how much you had grown since joining the hero party, but you were a bit disappointing. All your old bad habits were still there."

"Damn..."

Ulger clenched his teeth and pounded the ground with his fists, frustrated at losing to a non-combatant.

"To be told this by someone like you! Damn it! Damn it!"

I turned and left.

"Wait! Let's fight again!"

"No matter how many times we fight, it's useless. Even if you challenge me a thousand times, you won't win. You'll just keep showing your ugly side."

"～～～～～～!"

I went to the hero and patted his shoulder.

"Leave it to you."

"Understood!"

Laurence went to Ulger, squatted down, and said.

"That was a great fight, Ulger! Especially that last attack was excellent! You've clearly shown the results of your training!"

"Laurence-sama..."

"If you keep this up, you'll soon surpass Act! Let's train hard together!"

Ulger sniffed and said firmly.

"Just wait, Guild Master! I'll get stronger and make you eat your words!"

★

Later, in my room.

"Act-sama! Did you see this morning's newspaper? It says the hero party defeated one of the Four Heavenly Kings!"

Yui came to me with the newspaper.

"The article says, 'The new spearman, Ulger, performed remarkably, and it was he who delivered the final blow to the heart of the Four Heavenly Kings!'"

I listened to Yui while doing paperwork.

"Was the mock battle the other day to motivate Ulger, so you deliberately provoked him?"

"You're overthinking it. Yui, get me some coffee."

Yui made coffee and brought a cup to me.

"Of course, Act-sama! You played the bad guy to help Ulger become a true member of the hero party!"

"Stop it. I just wanted to know the hero's current strength. Ulger charged at me, and I just deflected him. There was no other intention."

Yui smiled at me.

"What?"

"Of course, Act-sama is the best guild master in the world! I'll work hard to become a good guild master like Act-sama!"

She still wants to take me as an example.

Well, there's also the term "negative role model." I'll let her remember me as a bad example and grow into the best guild master.

"Yui, watch my back carefully."

"Yes!"

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